More than 100 former city workers were being charged with faking psychiatric problems in order to get federal disability benefits after arrests were made morning of Tuesday, December 7, in Manhattan, New York City, according to MSN News.

The city's ex-workers who were arrested included dozens of former police officers and firefighters, ahead of a planned afternoon news conference at the office of Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr.

According to a CBS News report, the arrested suspects have been charged in a 205-count indictment for allegedly collecting the amount between $30,000 and $50,000 annually. Their claims were based on fabricating serious mental incapacities and psychiatric disorders. Majority of the ex-city workers claim that their psychiatric conditions were acquired during the 9/11 attacks. Post-traumatic stress was among the many mental ailments the suspects claimed to have.

Investigators who requested anonymity said the scam goes back two decades with ex-police officers and other workers claiming mental health disabilities that were so severe they couldn't work at all.

The issue of ex-city workers and government workers feigning injury to claim disability benefits has been the subject of criminal cases before.

The ex-city workers collected years' worth of benefits after reporting they were psychologically damaged they couldn't take care of themselves. They were coached on how to portray their mental conditions to get health claims.

According to Michael Palladino, president of the Detectives' Endowment Association, among those arrested was a retired police officer who has since worked helping members of the detectives' union with disability claims at an office in Queens. The retired police officer has been suspended without pay.

The district attorney's office, police and federal authorities have put the case together and arraignments were expected to begin on Tuesday.

There were at least 32 people arrested over the course of two years during a probe into Long Island Rail Road employees who also collected disability benefits. In the case, at least 24 have pleaded guilty. The railroad employees claimed on-the-job injuries only to be seen either playing golf and tennis or working out. Some were even participating in a 400-mile bike race.